The esports industry has grown rapidly in the past few years, combining competitive sports and entertainment for both in-person and online digital consumption.
As sponsorship deals and investments continue to pour in and fuel the growing industry, an Esports Insider piece on the industry’s outlook for 2025 describes esports’ trajectory as “a cultural force rather than a fleeting trend.” The piece also highlighted key esports ecosystem and structural changes for classic titles like Valve’s Counter-Strike and Riot Games’ League of Legends, pointing to a continued effort for esports governing bodies to legitimize the sport and cultivate longevity.
Today, legitimizing the esports industry can help elevate the growing market into a burgeoning sector with new career opportunities for everyone involved. In this post, we’ll look at how the esports industry is legitimizing the sport and managing deviance:
The rise of esports governing bodies
One of the key first steps to legitimizing esports as a competitive sport is the establishment of esports governing bodies. According to a study published in the Frontiers in Sports and Active Living journal, most traditional sports are overseen by international federations, which are responsible for establishing rules and the format of international competitions. Unfortunately, this pyramidal structure doesn’t necessarily translate to esports because of the significant role that corporate game publishers and developers play in the ecosystem.
Researchers consider game publishers the key stakeholders in the esports ecosystem, as they tend to be the exclusive owners of decisive property rights. However, as commercial enterprises, game developers tend to primarily focus their esports projects on profit-oriented initiatives instead of focusing on legitimization and regulations.
This hasn’t stopped esports governing bodies from being established around the world. Today, there are international associations like the International Esports Federation and World Esports Association, as well as national associations specific to countries and regions, such as the Korean Esports Association, Esport-Bund Deutschland e.V., and the Japan Esports Union.
As more of these governing bodies continue to be established, the industry can benefit from more official regulations to help deter bad actors and industry mishaps.
The problem of esports match-fixing
StarCraft II is a longstanding esports fixture with a thriving betting culture. Studies on the game’s Determinants of Victory exist, where scholars use in-game data to predict the outcome of matches in StarCraft II: Legacy of The Void. As such, StarCraft betting remains a popular pursuit for avid fans of the game. Online sportsbook Thunderpick covers StarCraft events and tournaments as well as providing different odds and betting markets to ensure fair betting experiences. Experienced StarCraft esports bettors make their betting decisions based on in-depth analyses of player win rates and how well they adapt to the meta.
That said, in terms of deviance in the industry, esports shares some similarities with traditional sports — and the StarCraft II industry is no exception. This includes match-fixing, which is also a common occurrence in traditional sports leagues like the MLB and the NBA. One of the most prominent stories of match-fixing was the StarCraft II case in South Korea.
Back in 2015, twelve people were involved in match-fixing five high-level StarCraft II games from tournaments like the 2015 Proleague and GSL Code A and Code S. Three esports team members and six brokers and financial backers were indicted and arrested as a result of the case. Some experts suggest that the issue was motivated by the highly competitive and lucrative esports scene.
A Houston Law Review paper notes that better regulation is critical, as esports betting contributes heavily to the industry’s growth. In the long run, this would allow esports officials to monitor and apprehend wrongdoers. The NBA, for example, implements mandatory monitoring and reporting for unusual betting and enforces an integrity fee that would go to brokers and operators to invest in compliance.
Moreover, the paper recommends rehabilitation as an element of how we handle esports cases.
Researcher Gregory Lu suggests rehabilitation reduces punishments; rather, he recommends
alternative programs that allow players to rehabilitate and correct their behavior according to their
case. Retribution, or justice, is also key to a healthy esports and betting culture, where cheaters
must face harsh penalties to account for damages to the industry, especially as match-fixing has
the potential to destroy careers and livelihoods that were built on decades of passion and dedication to the game. Tournament organizers, game developers, and even governments must use a multi-pronged approach to manage deviance in esports and protect wider industry
